Sinningia elatior

This species has one of the widest ranges in the Sinningieae tribe,
second only to S. incarnata.
According to the Gesneriad Checklist,
it is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela,
in addition to many of the Atlantic-coast states of Brazil.

Apparently, plain red with no other markings is good enough in the meadow.
On the other hand, the flower may produce copious nectar, as indicated by the paired
bulges at the base of the flower.
These could also be to protect the nectar from evaporation, if this plant grows in
a hotter situation than most sinningias.

This picture shows the growing shoot of S. elatior
in the spring [in this case, May 2010].
The three-fold symmetry of the leaf arrangement is easy to see.
The leaves are tightly packed until the stem begins to extend in preparation for blooming.

One interesting feature is the stiffness of the fruit pedicels.
After a flower has set seed, its stalk becomes quite rigid.
The flowers of S. curtiflora, by contrast, have almost no pedicel, being
pretty much flush against the stem.
In both cases, it would seem that the fruit is being protected again
being broken off by... rain? wind? animals?

This picture, taken in Brazil in April 1999, shows a roadside where we saw
Sinningia curtiflora (in seed) and
Sinningia elatior (in bloom).
They are not obvious, but they are there.
We move in a little closer.

This picture shows a few plants of
Sinningia elatior.
They can be recognized by their mostly upright reddish stems bearing
barely distinguishable flowers at the top.

Here are the flowers.
They have very short pedicels attached in clusters at the nodes of the
dark red wiry stem.

Since this was Brazilian autumn, and since there are still several nodes
worth of blooms yet to open, one can surmise that this species blooms late
into autumn in its habitat.
We didn't see any hummingbirds during our stop here, but the presence of two
sinningia species with tubular red flowers and the abundance of
Sinningia curtiflora seed strongly suggested
that there were hummingbirds nearby.

Reproductive isolation

It is also worth noting that the two species were in bloom at different times
of year.
Sinningia curtiflora and Sinningia elatior
are rather closely related, so they could easily hybridize if they bloomed at the same time.
Separation of blooming periods is therefore a strategy to avoid hybridization.

Oh, probably not. At this time, I cannot see anything special
about the flowers or the foliage or the plant habit.
This (2008) is the first year it has bloomed for me; my assessment
might change if it gets more floriferous with age. [2010: it hasn't.]